Reunion

Harry entered the shop with a smile on his face and his hair hanging over his scar. He'd been told that any distinguishing features would give him away. Any at all.

The shopkeeper looked up at the bell above the door ringing, but didn't greet him. Her gaze moved from him to another customer; she didn't even focus on him.

He smiled, wanting to be pleasant, but he couldn't draw too much attention to himself.

The shopkeeper got distracted by other customers, and Harry took a moment to browse the stock. It was primarily a bakery, and that's what they wanted: bread.

He looked at a few loaves of bread, then traced a path from his position to the front door. It'd take him less than ten seconds to grab the bread and get out. No one would notice him, not according to Ron.

As he reached for the bread, he felt someone staring at him. Remaining calm, he looked up, but no one was looking at him. Not even the telltale signs that someone had been staring at him, but averted their eyes at the last second. What was that feeling?

He looked at the bread again, his stomach reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything substantial in days, then realized who'd been staring at him.

You're better than this, Lord Skyeyes.

That's easy for you to say. You don't need to eat.

Harry thought about grabbing the food again, but instead, he turned around and left the shop.

Outside, he quickly slipped into the shadows to avoid any of the Ministry guards patrolling the town. He navigated the back alleys until he was out of town, then sprinted towards the woods. Once he'd made it, he threw his invisibility cloak over him, and started back towards their campsite.

"Did you bring anything?" Ron asked when he approached.

He didn't know who was more paranoid: Ron or Hermione. Every morning, the pair of them each set up a dozen wards around their campsite, then took them down when they left. Either one could've pointed to a fly entering their campsite. Tutela, Crookshanks, and Hedwig all patrolled the area, along with Luna, who could hear or smell anyone coming.

But as he was sure Rose would've said, "Just because you're paranoid, that doesn't mean no one's out to get you; it just means you're better at avoiding them."

"No, I couldn't," Harry said, pulling off the cloak. "Too well guarded."

"He's lying," Luna said. She sniffed the air again, then added, "but it is Skyeyes."

Ron let out a quick sigh, then glanced at Sally-Anne. She smiled at Harry.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "We'll figure something out."

"It'd be nice if someone would offer a solution," Ron said, glaring at Hermione.

"I did," she said. "I offered it the day we escaped from Malfoy Manor, and the day after that, and every day since: use the rings."

"We're not using the bloody rings!"

"Both of you, calm down," Sally-Anne said as Harry took a seat next to Ginny. "Fighting each other isn't helping."

It'd been three months since Umbridge had taken control. Since then, it felt like the world was ending.

Ministry squads patrolled everywhere in England. People were afraid to speak their minds anymore. There was no telling who was themselves, and who was a Ministry spy. It wasn't technically illegal to be Muggle-born or half-blood, but if you were, you were "detained". As far as they could tell, no one saw those that were detained ever again.

When Hermione and Luna had appeared in Malfoy Manor, they'd quickly told them everything they knew. Everyone had swapped stories of what they'd been doing for the past several months. Hermione and Luna had explained what they knew about Rose and Slytherin, and the others had explained what was going on with the Ministry.

After that, the question they'd been asking themselves for three months was "what do we do now?" No one had a good answer for that apart from "stay alive".

After they'd escaped from Malfoy Manor, they found Sally-Anne's dad, Hermione's parents, and Sally-Anne's Uncle Eric. Eric was Mrs. Perks's second-in-command, and gave them what he knew about the situation. Parliament was already preparing for a war, and that's what they were getting.

Harry was the one that went out to scavenge for food or get information. He grabbed copies of the Daily Prophet, the only legal news source. It claimed that Muggles were monsters, using any horrible act as an example of what they were all like. From what he'd gotten from the Muggles, they were trying to cover up instances of magic as best they could, but it wasn't possible anymore. People disappeared, bridges were destroyed, buildings were torn apart. The Ministry didn't care who knew. Even the International Confederation of Wizards was starting to bend to Umbridge's will.

"How are you doing?" Harry asked Ginny, slipping his hand into hers.

She smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

"I'm alright." She looked away. "A little hungry."

He nodded.

"Me too.��

It'd be easy for either Hermione or Luna to get food, easier than it was for him, but they both refused. Instead, Hermione insisted that they simply use the rings again, which the four of them were dead set against. They'd worked hard to shrug off the crutch of Rose's "gifts", and they weren't about to give in to them.

Harry still wasn't sure how he felt about Rose. It'd brought him some amount of closure that Alavel's death had hit her just as hard as it'd hit him, and that she really hadn't been acting of her own free will. It'd also giving him some closure on what had happened with Ellie. He realized how obvious it should've been that she hadn't been acting of her own free will either, literally. While Rose's journal brought him some comfort, he was more worried about Ginny.

His friend had been improving over the last few months. He tried to shield her from the worst of the slander; it hit her harder than anyone, but he did his best to remind her that she wasn't a monster, nor a killer.

Knowing that Hermione had killed Rose put a lot into perspective for them. It'd almost pushed Harry to put his ring back on. Knowing that Hermione had saved them from Rose, had saved everyone, was more credit than they'd been giving her. It'd also helped that Rose hadn't killed Neville, but that didn't change what she'd done to Lavender, Alavel, Taltria, or Ginny, never mind the professors.

All the time they'd been on the run, Hermione and Ron refused to get along. They both had ideas about how to proceed, but neither would agree on anything apart from running and taking down Umbridge and Slytherin. But even then, Ron wasn't entirely convinced that Umbridge was working with Slytherin. Harry wasn't sure that Ron entirely believed that Slytherin was real and not some trick of Rose's.

Hermione walked to the edge of their campsite and sat down on her own. As always, she snapped at Sally-Anne or Harry when they tried to get close to her. Ron drew up plans to go get food, but Harry still felt uncomfortable about stealing anything. The Ministry had made them into criminals, and he didn't want to reinforce that belief if they could help it. That left foraging as their only option, which meant finding whatever they could in the woods.

As the sun went down, they set up their tents, once again on a mostly empty stomach. Sally-Anne and Ginny shared one, he and Ron another. Luna slept on the grass, and Hermione slept in a sleeping bag beside her. That gave Harry another chance to try talking to Ron.

"Ron."

"I don't want to talk."

He rolled over in his sleeping bag.

"Too bad," Harry said. "We need both you and Hermione."

"Hermione doesn't want to help us. All she cares about is her obsession with Rose."

"Hermione killed Rose. Please, take a moment and think about that."

"It was probably one of Rose's tricks. That's all she ever did. She lied to us for her sick games."

Harry reached for anything he could use, anything at all. After thinking about it for a moment, he remembered something both Ron and Hermione had told him a few years ago.

"Remember when Hermione came back to Hogwarts before the third task?"

Ron remained motionless, apparently ignoring him.

"You said Rose brought her to you. Not to me, or Professor Vector, or Cedric. You. How did that benefit her? What sick game was she playing then?"

Harry waited, wondering how Ron would react.

"What about when she built Taltria and Alavel to protect us? Or that Christmas in third year? She did that for us."

Ron rolled over, his face red.

"What about all the times she threatened me? Was that for us? No, it wasn't! That was her, messing with my head, again!" Ron sat up. "Do you know how long it took for me to stop looking over my shoulder? To stop thinking she was going to jump out and kill me because I said something that upset Hermione? She didn't care about me at all! I was nothing to her! Expendable! An obstacle she had to get around to get to Hermione!"

"If Rose had wanted you out of Hermione's life, she could've done it. She had a weird sense of protecting us, but that's how it works in her world. Hell, that's how it works in ours now. I'm not saying what Rose did was right, but she deserves more of a chance than you're giving her."

"She never gave me a chance."

"Yeah, she did. She brought Hermione to you. That was her giving you a chance."

"She killed Lavender!"

"I'm never going to forgive her for killing Alavel, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't trust that there's still something going on."

"How do you know it's not Rose doing this? What if it's another one of her games?"

"If it is, then we've got to be there for Hermione and Luna."

They both sat there, panting. Harry was happy that he was getting through to Ron after months of trying.

"I'm going to bed," Ron said. "I… I'll think about what you said, though."

Harry smiled and nodded.

"Good night, Ron."

"Night."

Ginny jolted awake from another nightmare. She wiped away tears, then walked out of her tent and sat by the remnants of the campfire. As she stared into it, she let her mind wander. She could feel the accusing glares she got whenever they went near a town. Like people could sense the evil inside her. Why did she have to be the monster?

She heard footsteps behind her. She tightened her grip on her knees.

"I don't want to talk, Skyeyes."

"I'm not Skyeyes."

Ginny glanced over as Luna sat down with her.

"I don't think so, anyway." She sniffed the air. "Why are you so sad?"

Ginny looked back into the darkness outside of camp.

"Moon… have you ever killed anyone?"

Luna paused for a moment, then slowly shook her head.

"To protect Toad, I tore someone's throat out, and broke Lestrange's spine. I don't like thinking about it, but I know I was willing to do whatever I had to. Like you were."

"I nearly killed Skyeyes, Princess, and my brother. I… I'm a monster."

Luna made a sound like she was choking. It turned into a sputtering, then Luna started laughing.

"Stop it!"

"You're not a monster," Luna said, fighting back her laughter. "I've seen monsters. I've been them. There's a feeling when you love to kill people, to crush them under your foot." Luna's voice changed, taking on a strange accent. "Ta feel them crumble under your will. To let them know 'ho's in charge, that they can't beat you. Their life is yours."

Ginny frowned, uncertain what was happening. Before she could ask about it, Luna returned to normal (at least, what passed for normal with Luna).

"You're not like that. It's okay to get angry, to lash out, especially when you're having a hard time. Being mad, even hurting people when you're mad, doesn't make you a monster. Even killing people doesn't make you a monster. Sometimes, you've got to kill people. There isn't another choice."

Ginny stared into the darkness again, letting Luna's words sink in. Nothing was wrong with her. She was human. Why did everyone keep saying she was a monster?

Umbridge lied to us before. She's lied to everyone.

"No matter how many times she says it," Ginny said, "it doesn't make it true."

"Who are we talking about?"

"Umbridge."

"I don't care for her."

Ginny stifled a laugh.

"Me either."

Another killer. This should be fun.

Umbridge wasn't the only one that had called her a monster.

"There was a man in Azkaban… Shawx, I think… I hated the way he looked at me. Like I was… some new toy. He knew I hadn't killed Scrimgeour, but he kept calling me a killer. He said he could see the blood on my hands."

A shudder ran through her body. She felt the urge to hide away from his gaze. She could still feel it on her.

"I never want to go back there."

She tried to push away thoughts of Azkaban. Instead, she voiced another concern that had been on her mind. There was no reason to mention it, but if anyone would have a surprise solution, it was Luna.

"If we get into a fight, I can't help."

"Why not?"

"I can't practice magic out here without giving us away. The Ministry would know, and we'd all go back."

"Oh. Have you asked Brain? She could help."

Ginny shook her head.

"I don't want to get into the middle of her shouting match with Ron."

"Oh. You should ask anyway." Luna smelled the air again. "I think they'll be better soon."

Ginny looked back at the tents and thought about the past few months. Running away from the Ministry was bad enough; she hated hearing the shouting and arguing.

"I hope so."

The following day was like any other. They packed up and moved their camp to a completely different location. Once again, Harry went out foraging for food, this time in the woods in which they found themselves. Ron stayed behind and tried drawing up battle plans in his head.

It wasn't easy to figure out what to do next. The same question weighed on him: how did they fix this?

They couldn't simply kill Umbridge. She'd become a martyr for her cause, and they'd be proving her point that they couldn't be trusted. They had to change everyone's minds, but with Umbridge controlling the flow of information, that wasn't possible. They couldn't get rid of Umbridge, but so long as she was there, they couldn't win.

Dad says that happens, and that it may never go away. It doesn't mean I'm still a scared, timid little girl, but that I'll always have an obstacle to overcome.

"Maybe it won't go away," he muttered to himself.

"Ron? Is something…"

He looked up and saw Sally-Anne taking a seat near him.

"I'm sorry, that was a stupid question," she said. "Of course something's wrong."

She looked down at the smoldering ashes of their fire. It was as if she didn't have any hope left in her. Ron hated seeing her that way. How was he supposed to have hope if even Sally-Anne didn't?

"I was thinking about what you said at St. Mungo's. After Rose had attacked Ginny."

She frowned, looking as lost as ever.

"What did I say?"

"You said that I might never get rid of the feeling that everyone's better than me, but that it might be something I've got to live with. Maybe Umbridge is something we've got to live with."

"You don't get over something ingrained in you like that."

Hermione took a seat near the campfire. His first instinct was to turn away from her, but he remembered what Harry had said the night before. Hermione would need them eventually. Besides, even he had to admit that Rose wasn't always out to get him.

"Rose never got over what Valignatiejir did, and I'm never going to get over what I did. Running into the fight at the World Cup, nearly killing Moon, and actually killing Rose. All of that stays with me. It's just something I've got to cope with."

"I was thinking," Ron said.

Hermione opened her mouth, then thought better of whatever snarky comment she'd been planning.

"What if Umbridge is like that? What if the problem isn't to get rid of her, but to win in spite of her being there?"

Hermione considered it, then slowly nodded her head.

"That seems to be our only option," she said.

Ron stared at the campfire. He waited for Hermione to say something, but his stomach growling was what broke the silence first. He glared at Hermione, waiting for her to comment about the rings again, but she didn't.

Instead, Hermione held out her hand, and bread appeared in it.

"You must be starving," she said. "You should eat."

Ron frowned, then took the bread from her. It looked real enough to eat, but magic couldn't conjure food like that. Unless…

"Rose could do this, couldn't she?"

Hermione nodded.

"Create food and water, if you're interested."

Ron waited for her to rattle off the level and casting time, but instead, she handed another piece of bread to Sally-Anne.

"I'm sorry for the way Rose treated you," Hermione said, turning back to him. "I'm sorry for abandoning you the way I did, and… I'm sorry that Rose hurt everyone trying to get to me." She sniffled, but continued talking. "This is all my fault. I—"

"No it isn't," Sally-Anne said. "Rose was… different. People change based on their experiences, and Rose had a different life than we did. What she said in her journal probably made perfect sense to her. She was upset, and her death was the only solution she could see. She was probably right about Slytherin. If she had survived all this, Slytherin would've only done this all over again, using us as leverage to get what it wanted."

Ron stared down at the ashes, thinking. He munched on the bread, which tasted better than anything he'd had in his entire life. The thought of food brought with it thoughts of his family. They'd been rotting in Azkaban for months. There was probably nothing left of who they'd been.

"I don't know what to do," Sally-Anne said, "but we've got to try something. Umbridge has done enough damage to this world. We're the only ones who know the whole story, so it's up to us to fix it. The only way we're going to do that is if we work together."

"Agreed."

Ron was proud of himself that he didn't flinch when Harry simply appeared. They had at least three wards that stopped people from apparating, so Ron knew he'd snuck up on them once again.

Luna and Ginny walked over and took seats next to Hermione and Harry, respectively. Ron wished Sally-Anne would move and sit next to him, but knew it would've been silly. Why would she move just to be near him?

"This is a political problem," Sally-Anne said, walking over and sitting next to him. "No offence, by this is my area of expertise."

Ron blushed when Sally-Anne smiled at him, but snapped out of hit when Hermione snickered.

"What are you, five?" Sally-Anne asked. "We've got to stay focused."

"We can try getting the truth out," Harry said, "but no one will believe us."

"You'd be surprised what people will believe," Luna said, "when they don't like what's going on. Just because the Daily Propaganda says Umbridge is a hero, doesn't mean people are going to agree with her."

"She's stripped away the rights of anyone that isn't a pureblood," Ron said. "Everyone in power benefits from this."

"There are always good people, Cohort," Luna said. "Some purebloods will be sympathetic to others, but they won't speak up out of fear. They'll believe us. Like Mr. Malfoy."

Ron grumbled at the nickname. Rose had once told him that the closest word to "cohort" in Dwarven was belik, which roughly translated to "first ally". Knowing that, if Rose hadn't used "Cohort" as an insult so often, he might've taken the name as a complement.

"First, don't call me Cohort. Second, that might be, but I don't know if it's enough, and we want as much certainty as we can get."

"Mum might know."

Ron turned his attention to Sally-Anne. She'd been off the past few months, and he wasn't surprised. She blamed herself for their failure at the Ministry, and for giving their position away when they'd hidden at the Malfoys. He'd honestly thought no one would've thought of looking for them at Malfoy Manor.

"Then we've got to get her out," Hermione said. "I want to take Slytherin down. You want to save your mum. We all want to stop Umbridge. So we go in, get the students out, get your mum out, take out Slytherin and the Spektres, then Sarah and Eric can start working with the Ministry of Magic again to stop this war."

"It can't be that easy," Harry said.

"We'll need reinforcements," Hermione said. "We've evacuated the students before, but this time, there will be a lot more opposition. The first time, the castle was crumbling around us. The second, the castle was full of Death Eaters. Now, we'll have all of that, plus whatever forces Umbridge has been bringing in."

"Dementors," Harry said, handing her a copy of the Daily Prophet. "She's got Dementors in the school."

Sally-Anne started trembling in her seat. Ron took her hand in his.

"It was only a matter of time," Sally-Anne said. "She'd never said anything about it two years ago, but there were times I wondered."

"Where are we getting reinforcements?" Ginny asked. "The Order?"

"If we break them out of Azkaban, Umbridge will know we're coming," Ron said.

"We'll need to get them out eventually," Hermione said. "They can't survive forever in there."

For once, Ron agreed with Hermione. It'd be better to get them out sooner if possible.

He glanced down at his pack. It'd been hard to shrug off everything Rose had given him, but he'd been wondering more and more if he should start using them again.

"I know everyone had a hard time getting rid of Rose's gifts," Harry said, picking up on what Ron was thinking. "But we've all proved we don't need them. I think this would be a good time to start using them again."

"What Rose did can't be forgiven," Hermione said. "She knew that. I'm not saying you've got to forgive her."

Ron nodded, knowing somewhat how Hermione felt. Rose had been her best friend, and she was trying to stick up for her. He was sure he'd stubbornly done the same before.

Sally-Anne squeezed his hand.

<It's up to you,> she said. <I won't if you won't.>

Ron looked at Sally-Anne, then at his pack. He wasn't sure if he wanted to, but the more he thought about it, the more he wanted the bracelet and ring back. They wouldn't help him in a fight, but they would help him a lot in the days to come.

"Ginny, what do you think?" he asked.

"I… I think we should. I don't… think Rose would've gotten through to me. Brain said she hardly recognized me. I wish there'd been another way, but I was lost. In a way, Rose brought me back. I don't know if there was another way."

"Don't say that," Sally-Anne said. "She could've stopped and let you escape. Maybe there wasn't another way, but Rose didn't have to be so… thorough."

Ron looked to Hermione, expecting her to add something, but she remained quiet.

"I want to use the rings again," Ginny said. "We need them."

"It's faster than Brain and I making more," Luna added.

"Agreed," Ron said.

"Agreed," Harry said.

"Agreed," Sally-Anne said.

They each reached into their packs and took out their rings. Ron's entire body tensed up as he held the ring in his hand. But still, he slid it on his finger.

Instantly, whatever chill was in the air seemed to vanish. His appetite followed, and he felt full for the first time in months.

He put the bracelet back on next, completing his equipment. Harry and Ginny didn't have much either, but Sally-Anne went inside her tent to put her dress back on.

"I'm sorry for being so pushy about them," Hermione said. "I guess I thought you'd all get over it when I came back with answers, but what Rose did goes deeper than that."

"It's fine," Ginny said. "There's nothing to worry about now."

"We'll do this together," Harry said. "With the help Rose gave us."

Sally-Anne stepped out of her tent, and Ron couldn't help but stare. The light reflected off her like an angel.

"Wow," was all he could manage.

She smiled at him, and his face began to burn. She walked over and sat beside him.

His heart pounded in his ears, his stomach churned, but he didn't want the feeling to go away. He wanted Sally-Anne to stay by his side forever.

"The old team," Hermione said. Looking at Luna, she added, "minus one."

Ron snapped out of his stupor and nodded. The one thing he could forgive Rose for was Neville. She hadn't been the one to kill him. He supposed that wasn't a surprise; thinking about it, Rose wouldn't have killed him, nor Luna, nor Hermione. He wondered what really would've happened if Hermione hadn't been able to beat Rose. Maybe things would've worked out okay.

"We've got to start practicing again," Harry said. "We've got a big fight ahead of us."

Ron nodded, then glanced at Sally-Anne. She looked downcast for a moment, so he took her hand, sending chills over his body.

"We'll make it this time. With all of us together, we can't lose."

When Sally-Anne smiled, he couldn't help but smile too. They really would win this time. They had to. Everyone was counting on them.

"What about me?" Ginny asked. "I… I can't—"

"Of course you can," Hermione said. "I'll get you some spells that you can use without a wand."

"I almost can't believe I'm asking this," Ron said, "but can you remove the Trace?"

He'd half expected Hermione to wave her hands and remove it then, but she paused in thought.

"I might be able to, but it'd be awful risky if it went wrong."

Ron nodded, glad to have Hermione back again. As much as her obsession with Rose annoyed him, she'd been a good friend, and one of the first people Ron would want on his team.

"It's brilliant to see how much you've all grown," Hermione said. "I suppose I've been distant for a while."

"I can top that," Luna said. "I ran away."

A laugh escaped Hermione, then Sally-Anne started laughing. Soon, they'd all joined her.

"It's funny to look back on who we were when we got to Hogwarts," Harry said. "I was always so stubborn, convinced that I couldn't trust any of the adults. Then I was just angry at them."

"Alavel did you good," Sally-Anne said.

Harry nodded, his smile not fading.

"Yeah, he did. I'm glad Rose made him and sent him with me."

They all smiled for a moment, without talking. After a little while, Ginny spoke up.

"I wanted to stand out so much that I pushed myself too hard. I wanted to prove I was as tough as the boys."

"You definitely are," Hermione said.

"Every bit as strong," Harry said, taking her hand, "if not stronger."

Sally-Anne smiled at her, and even Ron tried. His little sister had grown up a lot in the past few years. He hated to admit it sometimes, but she was just as good as he was in a fight.

"I was terrified of everything," Sally-Anne said. "I nearly started crying the first night, but… funny enough, it was Rose that showed me I could be strong. She gave me that first push, then it was up to me."

"You've done great," Ron blurted, his face flushed.

Sally-Anne smiled at him, then leaned in and kissed him.

"Thank you, Ron. Really. I thought I was a horrible person after siding with Umbridge."

"You're fine," Hermione said. "We all know Umbridge was the problem."

"Nothing she did was your fault," Harry said. "You were trying to help us."

"Like the big sister you are," Ginny added.

"Everyone makes mistakes sometimes," Luna said. "I should know. I ran away from Slytherin instead of telling Toad and Brain. They could've helped." Luna's usual cheer began to fade, until Hermione put her arm around her.

"We all miss him," she said. "And he was ready to fight Hell for you. Like you did for him."

"Moon," Ginny said, "you've always been so happy all the time. I don't know how you do it, but I've always thought it was cool."

The smile returned to Luna's face.

"Thank you, Firecracker."

"I've always been perfect," Ron said, receiving an elbow from Sally-Anne.

"Where do I begin?" she said.

"I've got several," Hermione said.

"And me," Ginny added.

Harry's grin said the same for him.

"Alright, I might've made one or two mistakes."

"Like sneaking into the first task."

"Or leaving Gryffindor Tower when the Basilisk was lose."

"Or accusing Crookshanks of eating Scabbers."

"Or—"

"Thank you," Ron said, with a little more irritation in his voice than he'd intended.

Sally-Anne kissed his cheek.

"But you've learned from every mistake. Not everyone does that."

Ron smiled, then put his arm around Sally-Anne. She moved in closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I suppose I'm up," Hermione said. "How obnoxious was I during first year?"

"You always had to be right," Ron said. "You were bossy."

"Not too annoying," Sally-Anne added.

"Until she started talking," Harry said.

"I think you were perfect," Luna said.

"Thank you, Moon. Still, I think I would've been worse without Rose. She kept me humble, and I kept her… sort of out of trouble."

"I think you kept her out of the worst of it," Sally-Anne said. "She would've been so much worse without you."

Hermione smiled at Sally-Anne.

"And she was a good big sister," Luna added. "No one bullied me with her around. And Toad was a lot better after she helped him."

"She was mad," Harry said. "But she cared about us."

"Even if she wasn't good at showing it," Ginny said.

"She was our friend," Ron said. "Now we've got to carry on where she left off."

Everyone smiled at one another. Ron was afraid of what would happen next. He didn't know how many of his friends would be alive in a year, but they would pull through it.

Together.